Anyone ever dug a privy or old dump?

[fistfulladirt]

I haven't done it in years....did get a couple of leads from property owners this year, about old dumps way out back....lots of times you will find one in a ravine or the edge of a swamp.
This summer one landowner told me of the time her father was excavating a drain tile near the old dump and when he went back in the spring he caught a tiny glimpse of gold in the mud, GOLD COIN!
When I was younger I dug lots of old farm dumps. Found many old blob-top beers, sodas, even a beautiful late 1800's local druggist, embossed amber Bitters (C.E. Webb's Improved Stomach Bitters, Jackson, Mich). One time I found a nice german-gold framed set of bifocals. I cannot locate them to this day. I dug tons of embossed medicines and nice poisons also.
Just wondering if I am the only nutcase here that has done this sort of thing. It's a blast and just as fun as MDing. ffd

 

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[michigan michael]

I stumbled along an old dump this past summer. I had a blast! Bottles, old toys , even a wheel. I would spend weeks in a place like that! Does that make me crazy along with ya?

 

[mpostma]

Well,
I love to dig old bottles from dumpsites! I've found a few dumpsites at the edge of an old farm, behind the old fairgrounds, and even in an old picnic grove. My favorite was finding tons of old bottles that had floated in Lake Charlevoix many years ago, when the lake level dropped I found tons of cool stuff that had floated up under the old bushes by the mills and factories that used to line the end of the lake!

Some think I'm crazy too. Hmm, either I'm not, or I'm in pretty good company.

Good Luck,
Mark

 

[michigan michael]

We dig all day looking for buried treasure! Ask anyone. They all think we are crazy.

 

[Justice70]

Sounds like fun to me! I love relic hunting

 

[vayank54]

We lived and still live in a rural area. When we were kids we would grab a couple burlap bags and hop on our bikes and ride to any woods we knew there were old bottle dumps when we filled the bags we tossed them over our backs and rode home. Most of the bottles were 1870's to 1940's or so. I still have a lot of them. Today if I see a bottle dump I'm in it. I still love digging them. On one job site I saw a bunch of broken glass in a small area and started poking around and found it was an old dump. I got quite a few bottles dating in the late 1800's Probably the coolest was a Sperm whale sewing machine oil bottle. As an added bonus I got a civil war eagle breast plate at the bottom of the dump. You just never know what's going to come up.

 

[Michiganne]

Just wondering if I am the only nutcase here that has done this sort of thing. Yes, I've dug at a little dump near us and found a couple nice milk bottles and more. I would like to dig a privy some day, too. So, I guess that makes me a nutcase too?

HH

 

[Mike from MI]

Love digging bottles! I had an antique bottle display set up at the local library for a month recently.

 

[starwarsblazer]

Yes, I found my first bottle dump only a few years ago here in Portland, MI. Nothing too old, bottles and items from it are ranging from the 30's to the 50's. But it's a big hole, so far about twenty feet wide and about eight feet deep (and it has wooden planks holding the sides up ) I love digging in it when I have the time.

 

[Mich. Wolverine]

I some how missed this when it was posted. But I have dug a couple of outhouse holes. I was researching a halfway house that was huge so me and a friend went looking for the location. A couple of the older guys from town had detected it years ago but knew there was still some good stuff left. I was detecting around the site and seen a square depression. I told my friend that it could be where the outhouse was and dug a test hole. I started hitting glass about 8" down and pulled out a whole embossed medicine. We went back the next week with our digging equipment and opened it up. That thing was chucked full of glass from top to bottom and was from the 1880's. There were lots of broken brown glaze plates,mugs and alot of broken oil lamp shades. We found about 30 whole bottles and the amazing thing was three of the walls that were constructed out of wood were still intact. The two things I'm sorry we didn't do was sift the dirt and check on the outside of the walls. I probed around to find another one but never did find it. It was a lot of fun to dig and made some good finds in the process. I hope to dig a few this summer.


Wolverine.